Thursday, July 21, 2011

Best Sounds Ever

My good friend, Ed Wyborski, recently wrote to me, posing the question of the “best ever” sounds.  What is the best snare sound, trumpet sound, mandolin sound, etc.  Of course, “best” is always subjective, but so many great sounds are very distinct or unique.  Here’s what Ed wrote; please add to the list and comment on your favorite sounds and, if you know, how they were created. We will be at the AES booth at NAMM this weekend asking people for their input as well.

The Question - What is the best ever use of an instrument (or close to an instrument) in songs we know at this point in time, if you believe in a linear timeline.  What is the thing that gets your attention when you hear a song that makes you say “I know that song – it has a great…?).  You can pound to it, dance, and jump or just yell out.  “Ya baby – I remember when this came out – it was soooo cool”

So, I open for debate, to honor all those great musicians, recording engineers and producers that have captured these incredible sounds. What is the best ever – What, Who, When, Where and now the hard part “How?”

The virtual phone is now open.  Please add and expand in every direction.

      - Hand claps – Buffalo Springfield,  For what it worth
      - Leslie speaker with organ – Devil with the blue dress?
      - Leslie speaker with guitar – John Jaszcz, Detroit 1977, hot night, cool drinks, great song – no idea what    it was but it was cool (note: This speaker got me a “A” at Wayne State in the Psychoacoustics of physics class 500 level)
      - Leslie speaker with other – Good Question
      - Cow Bell – Mitch Rider and the Detroit Wheels? – Little Susie was only 5 years old – rock and roll? 
      - Bongo -  must be Santana – Soul sacrifice – a long time ago (extra points for the place)
7    - Something cool – Ride with me  - some kind of sound at start
8    - Best “hey hey hey” - Don’t you forget me Simple minds?
      - Saxophone – Deacon Blues?
      - Talk Box – Rocky Mountain Way 

6 comments:

  1. The best Leslie guitar is without a doubt the transition guitar by George Harrison in the song "Badge" by Cream, engineered by Bill Halverson and Adrian Barber.. If anyone knows which engineer actually recorded the Leslie, Let me know!

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  2. I love the horn section from "Late in the evening" Paul Simon.

    The way Trent Reznor uses noise in his tracks and makes it musical.

    XTCs use of Crickets in "Summers Cauldron" is amazing. In fact between XTC and Reznor the cutting edge use of sound is an inspiration to me.

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  3. Randy poole said on facebook:
    "Haven't heard it in a while, but the snare sound on 30 days in the hole(Humble Pie)... Always worked for me, I believe it was cut with the Rolling Stones mobile truck with a Helios console...."

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  4. Best use of a final chord is undoubtedly the E major at the end of A Day in the Life by The Beatles. That being said, pretty good use of an alarm clock in that song as well... originally intended to be edited out, but worked so well with the lyrics of the bridge it was left in. (George Martin later said that editing it out would have been very difficult)

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  5. HEY JOHN...THE MITCH RYDER TUNE WHERE "JENNY SAID WHEN SHE WAS 5 YEARS OLD, NOTHING GOING ON AT ALL!!!" WAS LOU REED'S "ROCK & ROLL"...John Stedman "The Grit Kids" lol

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